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planning diet

Are you a dog? No? Then why are you rewarding yourself with food? Under no circumstances should you use food as a reward mechanism for yourself. No matter how hard your day at work or how much the kids, your boss, your partner is giving you a hard time or no matter how much you have achieved in a day you should never kick back with food to pat yourself on the back. This reinforces the mindset that food is something to comfort yourself or congratulate yourself with, both of which usually lead to taking on too many calories for the day. Let’s face it, when in this mindset you are not going to ‘reward’ yourself with a bowl of lettuce – more likely – calorie dense treats like candy or cakes.

This is not to say that you cannot let your hair down once in a while; but lets make that the exception rather than the rule. Your birthday is a good day for that or maybe Christmas day. Plan it. Be proactive. Not reactive. Otherwise in my most humble opinion, you will be rewarding and comforting yourself over the slightest excuse to do so and food will become your crutch, much like tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs are for many people. Food is not a crutch. It is energy. To be consumed when you are hungry, in the right quantity, savoured and enjoyed, it is planned and not a spur of the moment event. If you are serious about losing those pounds you are going to have to alter your state of mind for the better. This is one of the many keystones that must be employed to succeed. Avoid watching cookery programs and also avoid the adverts on TV as some of them are going to be about the foods you love but have eaten way too much of – worse still – the ads are going to encourage you to consume the product, the complete opposite of what you are trying to achieve. These companies; they spend million of dollars on adverts to encourage you to buy their product, remember those adverts will influence you, ‘they’ are aware of how persuasive their commercials are, that’s why they do it.

Prevention is truly better than cure. Avoid rather than have to remedy. Stay strong and focus on your goal. You are not a dog. You will not reward or console yourself with food. Food is not a treat. It is energy. Eat sensible amounts, and take your time with it. Never rush. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing what I believe causes us to follow through with sensible eating and why we don’t always stick to the game plan.